This is purely a mental exercise. Which books give you the most enjoyment and value? Which books are must haves, for you?
Hmmmm.......
White Box - Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
AD&D 1E Monster Manual, PHB, and DMG.
AD&D 2E PHB.
D&D 3E Manual of the Planes.
D&D 3.5E PHB, Spell Comp., and Magic Item C.
D&D 4E Manual of the Planes.
D&D 5E PHB, DMG, MM, Volo's, and Xanathar's.
Tome of Beasts for D&D 5E.
Pathfinder Bestiary, Monster Codex, and NPC Codex.
Dungeon Crawl Classics.
So, 20 volumes made the cut; and a little more than 20 didn't. What would make it back on to your bookshelf?
I did consider this as a mental exercise but to be honest I was just trying to work out where to buy another book shelf and/or more floor space for piling up books so yeah sorry.
Everything would stay. I bought a house just so I could have a library and office.
Requiried:
The Fantasy Trip - In The Labyrinth
The Fantasy Trip - Advanced Melee
The Fantasy Trip - Advanced Wizard
GURPS Basic Set 3rd Edition
GURPS Basic Set 4th Edition
Desired:
GURPS Magic
GURPS Low-Tech
GURPS Martial Arts 4e
Wanted:
GURPS Bestiary
GURPS Compendium II
GURPS Thaumatology
Would be nice:
GURPS Vehicles
GURPS High-Tech
GURPS Space (last 3e printing)
GURPS Tactical Shooting
Palladium Compendium of Weapons, Armor and Castles
OD&D.
Never!
Ok. In order from Deathgrip to Nice To Have.
2nd edition AD&D PHB, DMG and MC.
Dark Sun boxed set.
Psionics handbook.
...
Rifts core book, Vampire Kingdoms, Conversion book.
...
Deadlands, Mekton II, Cyberpunk 2020
...
Everything else.
I have 2 book cases for RPGs, the big one in the bedroom is the one for not-in-current use, so I only have to look at the living room one to see what I'd keep.
All my 5e D&D stuff including 3rd party (Tome of Beasts, Fifth Edition Foes, Primeval Thule & supplements), plus Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords, Inner Sea World Guide, and several AP issues I'm using in 5e. Also my Paizo flipmats, The Midlands for LFRPG, Labyrinth Lord & Stonehell Dungeon, and 13th Age is on the shelf more because I just bought it & would like to keep reading it.
Edit: I'd drop the 4e Essentials stuff on the living room shelf that's too small for large format books, and add my original 1e AD&D stuff from the bedroom. Could never leave my 1e DMG, it's like The Bible for D&D!
Core 1E books + Tome of Adventure Design is what gets used. Everything else that's not a module are memorials to curiosities that didn't take.
EDIT - if keeping books for campaigns I play in, as opposed to DM, than AS&SH would definitely make the cut.
Quote from: Razor 007;1110446If you had to narrow down your RPG bookshelf, which books would make the cut?
Mongoose Traveller
GURPS sourcebooks
Serenity RPG with BDH handbook
The Morrow Project
AD&D 1e
If taken to the extreme:
White Box - Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
AD&D Monster Manual.
D&D 3.0 Manual of the Planes.
Pathfinder Bestiary, Monster Codex, and NPC Codex.
D&D 5E PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, and the Dungeon of the Mad Mage Map Pack.
There. 10 Books, and a Map Pack.
Every edition of D&D and White Wolf. Any rpg based on movie property such as Star Trek and Star WArs. Mainly rpgs where I know I can find players and DMs easily.
Assuming 10 books, currently probably as follows.
RQ2 corebook
BRP corebook
Barbarians Of Lemuria corebook
CyberPunk 2020 corebook
Fading Suns 2nd Edition Corebook
WFRP 2nd edition corebook
Star Wars (d6 system) 2nd edition revised and expanded
Legend of the 5 Rings 1st edition Corebook
The Black Hack 2nd edition
LotFP
SWADE
The Black Hack 2e
Stars Without Number
Codex of the Black Sun
Nova Praxis
Godbound
Savage Rifts (6 books)
Rules Cyclopedia
The barest essentials would be
SWADE
The Black Hack 2e
Stars Without Number
If I'm being honest -
I'm keeping all my D&D 1e/2e stuff. All my Savage World's stuff. All my FFG Star Wars stuff. Talisl...
you know what? I'm keeping everything. Fuck this game.
Mainly just my GURPS 3e and 4e collection. It's compact enough to fit in two milk crates.
Quote from: tenbones;1110524you know what? I'm keeping everything. Fuck this game.
I like that attitude!
D&D 5E - 3 core books, plus Xanathars (it's thin), and the Kobold Press Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex (both thick but useful).
D&D Rules Cyclopedia
MRQ II Runequest - or replaced with any other version of Runequest or Mythras, really, but I've currently got that one and RQ III.
Dragon Quest 3E.
Toon - one or two books.
Hero System 4E - Big Blue Book, plus a couple of Fantasy Hero supplements
Burning Wheel -- all "gold" books except Adventurer's Guide, plus Torchbearer and Mouse Guard.
In reality, I've got one book case for all my RPGs. Until it fills, nothing goes. So I'm not dropping assorted items like Reign or Riddle of Steel since they don't take up much space, but I'm probably not going to play them, either. Ptolus is really thick, but it's paid for. If I had to replace it all from scratch for some reason, it would be the first five rows on the list above.
When the Lyonesse game is released next year, I expect it will replace the Runequest entry above.
"Bookshelf"
That's laughable...
Quote from: Brad;1110557"Bookshelf"
That's laughable...
haha right. My office no longer has walls. My bookshelves are now load-bearing and holding up half my house.
Quote from: tenbones;1110561haha right. My office no longer has walls. My bookshelves are now load-bearing and holding up half my house.
"I'm sorry, we can't play that game tonight. But I've got a contractor coming in this weekend to put in some bracing so that I can take those books out." :)
Would keep:
OD&D (3 LBBs)
AD&D 1E (PHB, DMG, MM)
Traveller (1977)
Gamma World (1978)
RuneQuest 2 (1980)
RIFTS (1990)
Dangerous Journeys (1992)
AS&SH 2E (2017)
Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1110584"I'm sorry, we can't play that game tonight. But I've got a contractor coming in this weekend to put in some bracing so that I can take those books out." :)
hah! it's so close to being true it's almost not funny. I have pruned my collection - but not in many years.
Quote from: tenbones;1110524If I'm being honest -
I'm keeping all my D&D 1e/2e stuff. All my Savage World's stuff. All my FFG Star Wars stuff. Talisl...
you know what? I'm keeping everything. Fuck this game.
I agree with this. But, if I really had no other choice (digital for instance)
Barbarians Of Lemuria corebook
Everywhen
CyberPunk 2020 corebook
Star Wars (d6 system) 2nd edition revised and expanded
The Black Hack 2nd edition
Everything White Box, White Lies, White Star
Everything Basic Fantasy RPG
Low Fantasy Gaming
SS&SS
OpenCore
AD&D 1e + modules, OD&D + supplements, WHFRP 1e core book, Call of Cthulhu 4e, Delta Green books for same.
I think I could run everything as a homebrew hack, so I can get away with just using RISIS.
However if I have to hastily grab rpgs, then these digest-sized rulebooks are in my hands:
- BRP OpenQuest Basic
- Fate Core
- OSR The Hero's Journey
- Traveler (MG 1E pocket edition)
On a good day, I can pretty much run anything with one of these little books and my imagination :)
If I have more space in this hypothetical backpack, then I'ld also throw in:
- BRP Mythras
- BRP RuneQuest Glorantha
- BRP Call of Cthulhu (7E or 3E GW version)
- BRP Corebook ('BGB')
- Conan (Modiphus 2D20)
- The One Ring
- Traveler (MG 1E)
- Two-Fisted Tales
That'll do me fine :cool:
However, if there is more space in this hypothetical bolt-hole, I would consider adding some of these:
- Dungeon Crawl Classics
- D&D 5E (only if I can also pack AiME)
- Interface Zero 2.0 (Fate edition)
- Jaws Of The Six Serpents
- Capes, Cowls, & Villains Fowl
- Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells
- Barbarians of Lemuria
- WEG Star Wars
- BRP Magic World (or BRP Stormbringer)
- Pendragon 5.2
- HARP Fantasy
- WoD Vampire The Masquerade 2E and 5E
- WoD Mage The Ascension 2E
- WoD Dark Ages Fae
- CoD Corebook
:cool:
I could probably get rid of about half my RPGs, I have a lot of weird old games that I never played.
I'd keep my old D&D boxed set, all my D6 stuff, Mutants & Masterminds, Twilight: 2000, and my Babylon 5 books.
Quote from: Lurkndog;1110725I could probably get rid of about half my RPGs, I have a lot of weird old games that I never played.
I'd keep my old D&D boxed set, all my D6 stuff, Mutants & Masterminds, Twilight: 2000, and my Babylon 5 books.
B5? That's something you don't hear too often. I finally sold my B5 books last year. What's in your collection?
B5 was one of the best sci fi series ever made, but tragically I think it will be mostly forgotten, if it hasn't been already. The original cast was such an indispensable element of the show. With so many of them gone now, a remake just wouldn't be the same.
Definitely will hold onto my monster books, from any edition. They are so inspirational. Conversion is fun.
Probably keep the more interesting setting books.
Player's guides from editions I never get to play would go soonest.
Basic Roleplaying - this works pretty well for almost anything
Artesia - very good and choking full of material. I like the way the spirit world is very important
Houses of the Blooded - yup that's a "story game" if I understand the term correctly, and it is very different, but good
The One Ring - very nice package overall, and I'm a bit of a Tolkien fan
Quote from: Aglondir;1110743B5? That's something you don't hear too often. I finally sold my B5 books last year. What's in your collection?
B5 was one of the best sci fi series ever made, but tragically I think it will be mostly forgotten, if it hasn't been already. The original cast was such an indispensable element of the show. With so many of them gone now, a remake just wouldn't be the same.
Edir: I said "sold my D20 collection" when I meant "sold my B5 collection"
Keeping it at 10:
AD&D 1e PHB
AD&D 1e DMG
AD&D 1e MM
Rules Cyclopedia
Moldvay D&D Basic
Moldvay D&D Expert (these are largely repeated in the Cyclopedia, but B/X is my first love so I can't depart with it)
Tome of Adventure Design
Basic Fantasy RPG (custom art version)
The Black Hack 2e
Whitehack
Rules Cyclopedia
Advanced Fighting Fantasy (and Stellar Adventures)
My D6 books (Star Wars and Mini 6)
Barbarians of Lemuria, Legends of Steel BoL Edition, and Dogs of War
Age of Shadow (my favorite version of BRP)
Beyond the Wall
Stars Without Number
That should cover everything. Several different flavors of fantasy, and I'd probably go with Mini 6 for modern or Sci-Fi, although I have some other choices there as well.
Several setting books and generic supplements that I didn't mention as well (although many of those are electronic).
I've been working on that.
Down to:
Palladium (entire collection)
L5R 4th Ed
Castles & Crusades
Mongoose Traveller 2nd
Cyberpunk 2020
Warhammer FRP 1st ed
Everything else has slowly been moved to the basement and most of those to the willing to sell list.
D&D Rules Cyclopedia
Shadow of the Demon Lords
Champions 4E
All of them. My collection is already narrowed down to what I want. If i had to move to a Tropical Island, I would take ...all of them, and build a hurricane proof bunker as well. There's no school like the old school!
Hero 6e 2 volume core
Mythras
Tunnels and Trolls 5e
I would threaten like Solomon to split the baby and then find out who the true mother is. :D
This sort of exercise works best when a scenario is given or at least some constraints given.
For example, a while back, I invented the challenge of what would I take with me in a brief case. Possible scenario to support that - we've been given one hour to evacuate due to an unexpected change in direction of a wildfire. We didn't have any inclination before to worry, so we haven't spent the last two days moving stuff.
In that scenario I think it's a given my laptop goes (good, all my digital content is safe). My RPG hobby is significant enough to me, and the most important stuff is easy to hand, so I could spend 5-10 minutes stuffing my backpack with my laptop and some games. I'd be able to fit a bit more than my briefcase challenge. Then I need to go upstairs and help my wife grab other important stuff. There won't be time or space to pack boxes of gaming stuff.
So into the backpack goes: OD&D and supplements, Classic Traveller and a few supplements, Burning Wheel Gold and Codex, First Fantasy Campaign, Wilderlands of High Fantasy, RQ1, Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror, and then I start figuring out what else I can stuff in there that's easy to hand. Even though they are reasonable to hand, my Dungeon Magazine, White Dwarf and Different Worlds collections don't make it.
Sadly my LEGO collection burns up... Not even worth trying to take any of it.
Now a different tack would be to focus on the print RPG stuff that I don't have in digital form in any way (and things like poster maps that even if I have digital forms of just will never be the same without referencing the paper map).
Also the future will hold an inevitable downsizing and my wife isn't going to give me a whole room to myself. I will have to pare the RPG collection down to a shelf or two or maybe three. Hopefully by then, even more of the stuff is available in digital form, preferably legitimate copies. I'm not sure what happens to the LEGO in that scenario, I hope to have more time in retirement to build with LEGO (and play RPG games), but the way I enjoy the LEGO hobby right now is that the storage space I need dwarfs even my peak sized RPG collection. I have picked up some books showing micro scale LEGO collections so maybe I'll manage to reduce the LEGO collection to the equivalent of a book case. Hopefully there will be good evidence that playing with LEGO is a good way to stave off dementia and Alzheimer's (RPGs should be good for that too... but there's a lot more potential for solo fun with LEGO).
So with that, I don't accept the following as a response to this challenge:
Quote from: GameDaddy;1110914All of them. My collection is already narrowed down to what I want. If i had to move to a Tropical Island, I would take ...all of them, and build a hurricane proof bunker as well. There's no school like the old school!
Yea, we could all imagine scenarios where we can keep everything. But eventually life will hand us a situation change where we can't just build a bunker for our stuff.
Frank
Hmm. Probably:
- Original D&D books (little brown books + supplements)
- 1e AD&D hardbacks (PH, DMG, MM, D&DG, UA -- the others I can do without)
- Greyhawk boxed set (1980)
- RQ2
- BRP Gold Book
Quote from: Aglondir;1110743B5? That's something you don't hear too often. I finally sold my B5 books last year. What's in your collection?
B5 was one of the best sci fi series ever made, but tragically I think it will be mostly forgotten, if it hasn't been already. The original cast was such an indispensable element of the show. With so many of them gone now, a remake just wouldn't be the same.
It's mostly the reference materials and spinoff books that were available for the TV show before the advent of the Mongoose B5 RPG. I also have the DVDs, of course, and a complete digital archive of the Lurker's Guide. I also wrote a 30 page PDF of my own, "The Gamer's Guide to Babylon 5," that had a cutaway of the station and a bunch of adventure locations.
I started running my own B5 game using a homebrew system, then switched over to WEG Star Wars. Easier to get players and find equipment and ships that had already been playtested.
Interesting question!
Rifts main book
Rifts Vampire Kingdoms (original version)
Palladium Fantasy 1st edition
DCC rule book
Lotfp Grindhouse box set
Maze of the Blue Medusa
The Dungeon Dozen
Scenic Dunsmith
Chained Coffin box
Vornheim
I'm doing this in reverse, as I am rebuilding a physical library nearly from scratch. Combination of what I have/what I plan to get (titles in italics are strong maybes) :
D&D5e Players Handbook
D&D5e Dungeon Masters Guide
D&D5e Monster Manual
Ultramodern5
Neurospasta
Apex
Ultramodern5 Redux (backed the Kickstarter)
Primeval Thule: Campaign Setting
Primeval Thule: Players Companion
Primeval Thule: GMs Companion
Adventures in Middle Earth: Players Guide
Adventures in Middle Earth: Loremasters Guide
Adventurer Conqueror King System
ACKS Player's Companion
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Handbook
ACKS Lairs & Encounters
ACKS Domains at War - Battles
ACKS Domains at War - Campaigns
ACKS Domains at War - Troops and Terrain
ACKS Guns of War
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery
Dark Albion: The Rose War
Dark Albion: Cults of Chaos
Lion & Dragon
King Arthur Pendragon
KAP Book of Sires
KAP Book of Uther
KAP The Great Pendragon Campaign
Paladin: Warriors of Charlemagne
Paladin: Adventures
Mekton Zeta
Mekton Zeta Plus
Mekton Zeta Tactical Display
Mekton Zeta Starblade Battalion
Mekton Zeta Mekton Wars 1: Invasion Terra
Mekton Zeta Mecha Manual 2: Invasion Terra Files
Cyberpunk 2020
CP2020 Maximum Metal
CP2020 Deep Space
CP2020 Firestorm: Shockwave
CP2020 Firestorm: Stormfront
Cyberpunk Red (when released...)
So most of a single, 6' tall bookshelf.
Keep: most of my Traveller books (mainly Mongoose, but The Traveller Book and some older adventures are valuable references), all my ACKS books, entire line of L5R 4e. A bare majority of my small press/OSR books, though many do need cleaned out. Mothership. As reference works despite not running it, AD&D DMG, MM, PHB and Oriental Adventures.
Miss the most out of what I lose: Rolemaster. It runs faster and smoother than people give it credit for. Roll percentile, look up result, done. Faster than D&D, if people aren't fucking around slowing it down because they're still pissed off about character creation. But character creation is a real issue, its day has passed in the wider community, and I'm just not going to get to run it again with everything else I have available.
Unfortunately I have allready had to do this during an emergency and 90% of my gaming stuff is in storage now.
What I have on hand are BX D&D, AD&D, and 5e. As well as my Gamma World, Star Frontiers and Albedo stuff. Mainly as these are the games I end up playing or referencing most.
I'd keep the books that contain the most bang for their size. This would include a number of non-books: stapled-together sheets printed double-sided from PDFs. I imagine I could fit dozens of these simpler games in the place of a single Call of Cthulhu tome.
And then Dungeon Crawl Classics and Burning Wheel.
Quote from: Razor 007;1110446This is purely a mental exercise. Which books give you the most enjoyment and value? Which books are must haves, for you?
I can't even do it in my head :D
My tomb will have bookshelves.
1st ed core books, DDG (inc Nehwon & Lankhmar
S1-S4 compendium, B1, B2, C1, G3, D3, UK4, I1, I6, L1, WG4, X1, X2
White Dwarf 1-86
RQ2 mainbook, Cults of Prax, Cults of terror, Trollpak, Pavis, Big Rubble, Borderlands, Griffin Mountain
Coc rulebook + investigators' handbook, Delta Green, Masks
D&D5E Rulebooks + Xanathars
CP2020
Night City supplement
Crypts & Things
Beyond The Wall
Vornheim
Silent Legions
ZEFrs
Apocalypse World
FATE
GURPS
Quote from: Fortunato;1112909I can't even do it in my head :D
My tomb will have bookshelves.
That would be a very sweet tomb, indeed!
Welcome to therpgsite, Fortunato!
I moved across country a couple years back, into a smaller house. I fought tooth and nail to keep my RPG collection intact, and succeeded, but I did consider the question back then.
Absolutely would keep in any move:
D&D Rules Cyclopedia
AD&D 1e: All "core" products and setting-agnostic rule supplements, the Adventures hardcover setting books, the Mystara Gazeteers.
AD&D 2E: All "core" products and setting-agnostic rules supplements. All black-book setting hardcovers. The core box set each for Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and Birthright. The complete run of Birthright splats.
Hackmaster 4E, all of it.
Hackmaster 5E, all of it (Which doesn't amount to much)
Warhammer Fantasy 1E core book
Warhammre Fantasy 2E - Core book, all the rules supplements, all the outside-the-Empire setting books.
Shadowrun 1E, 2E, 3E: All that I have, which is sadly less than I would like - about two dozen books total.
World of Darkness (The Original): The core hardcovers for all the settings, plus the Dark Ages line, Sorcerer's Crusade, Werewolf: Wild West, etc. The complete Kindred of the East line, the complete Changing Breeds collection, all of the stand-alone mini-core books like Demon Hunter X and Sorcerer. I do wish, here, that I had the money to buy the bound, physical releases of the 20th line, but I don't.
Dresden Files: Your Story and Our World both
The Laundry Files - All of it
All this stuff... somehow I would make room for it. If I had to stick it under my bed, or something.
There are a few things I wish I had print copies of. The 20th line of WoD I already mentioned. Shadows of the Demon Lord, a few other things. But since I assume I'll have my computer, that's not a huge deal.
Now, if we're talking "Bugout bag" type scenario, like... The world is ending, I need to grab a few books to keep us sane with in our survival bunker? Some situation like that?
AD&D2E: The Core Three
World of Darkness: Mage, Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling
Shadowrun 3E - Not my favorite incarnation of the setting, but some of the best rules.
Dresden Files: Your Story
The Laundry Files - Just the core.
If I had to trim it even further, I could probably fudge (no pun intended) World of Darkness with Dresden Files... I did some preliminary work on that a few years ago when it first came out. Probably could do something Cthulhu-ish with it, and something Cyberpunky too, but those would be harder. So I'd hang on to The Laundry Files core book and the Shadowrun 3E core book.
Definitely keep:
- All my Traveller material
- All my Fate books
- All my PDQ books
- Mythras and all supplemental material.
- Hollow Earth Expedition
- Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures
- Solar Blades and Cosmic Spells
- Old-School Essentials
- Setting books, because I'm a sucker for setting material
Possibly keep:
- D&D 5e
- Call of Cthulhu
- Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
Definitely toss (mostly because I don't play them and they take a lot of space, not necessarily because I don't like them):
- All the World / Chronicles of Darkness books.
- All my Gurps books.
- D&D 3e & 4e
Quote from: Fortunato;1112909I can't even do it in my head :D
My tomb will have bookshelves.
This is my kind of answer.
Desert island scenarios are always fun. But it's weird to think that there is simply no scarcity of texts anymore, when you can fit thousands of PDFs on a USB stick. It's hard to wrap your head around as we (let's say, those of us over age 30 or so) are the generation in history who lived throught the one-off transition from paper and scarcity to electronic documents and the cloud.
I'm at the point that I could toss my entire shelves and just play my own RPGs. It would be the perfect incentive to actually finish the damn books instead of leaving them languishing in playtest mode.
The more I consider this idea, the shorter my answer becomes. Truth is; the game is more in my head, than in the book.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1113087I'm at the point that I could toss my entire shelves and just play my own RPGs. It would be the perfect incentive to actually finish the damn books instead of leaving them languishing in playtest mode.
I don't have full-on homebrew RPGs to write, but I agree with the spirit of what you say -- I've internalized enough rules-light stuff from OS/OSR-D&D, Traveller, Barbarians of Lemuria, etc., that I could probably just dispense with all my books and use whatever simple d20 or 2d6 mechanics fit the adventure concept.
That said, to the OP:
I've gone through many cycles of purge down to "only what I need," only to gradually acquire more. At this moment, if I had to choose 10 or fewer books, my list would be:
Barbarians of Lemuria: Mythic Edition
Everywhen
OD&D LBBs + Greyhawk
Stars Without Number
Night's Black Agents
Fading Suns 2e
Blades in the Dark